Tobirama × Trouble

Konoha, the Hokage Office Building.

Tobirama was in his office, working through the mountain of documents piled on his desk.

He was currently looking over funding approvals for the new Ninja Academy and proposals submitted by the various clans for ninja unit formations.

Come to think of it, should I take on a few students too, to show how much they value the various clans?

As he pondered, he casually drew a giant red cross on an outrageously excessive budget request. Just then, the office door swung open without a sound.

There was no knock. It was Big Brother.

Hashirama "floated" in with unsteady steps, like a ghost whose soul had been sucked out. His face was pale, and his eyes were unfocused.

He went straight to the sofa and fell stiffly onto it with a dull thud, then lay still.

Tobirama's pen paused. He glanced at him. "Why the long face? Did you lose at gambling again?"

Hashirama lay on the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling. His voice drifted as though from another world. "Madara... Izuna used Senju-Style Super Strength... punched him flying... broke several trees... coughed up blood... passed out..."

Tobirama: "..."

Are my ears broken? How did I hear a whole bunch of words I couldn't understand in a single sentence?

Tobirama stared at Hashirama for a while before confirming that he wasn't talking nonsense.

He sighed and rubbed his temple. "Tell me what happened in detail."

Still lying like a corpse, Hashirama haltingly recounted what had happened by the Naka River in a sleepwalker's voice.

From Izuna's eye falling out and Madara going berserk, to Izuna instinctively punching Madara flying, then Hashirama arriving to heal him, and... Izuna's earth-shattering "Brother Hashirama, didn't you teach me?" as well as the conversations afterward that had made his scalp tingle.

Throughout the account, Hashirama's voice was full of bewilderment.

"...Anyway, that's what happened." Hashirama finally finished. He covered his face and wailed through his fingers, "Tobirama! Do you know what he did?! That kid! Uchiha Izuna! He looked at me with that... that completely trusting, matter-of-fact look, even a bit of admiration! Patted me on the shoulder! Complained to me about Madara and you! He was even worried Madara and I would quarrel and asked me to be patient with him! Oh, heavens! Who could handle that?!"

He sat bolt upright and clutched his already messy hair with both hands, his expression contorted. "So that's the kind of 'little brother' Madara faced yesterday?!

"No wonder he kept that attitude even though his suspicions were driving him mad! This isn't even a question of whether it's an act! It's... it's that the kid is too genuine!

"He really seems to think we're his dearest family and friends! The kind he'd bare his heart and soul to! I couldn't tell a single lie in front of him! I felt like a bastard tricking a pure little animal!"

Hashirama looked at Tobirama in anguish. "He also wanted to come see you! He said he wanted you to help figure out what was wrong with his eye, and he was going to 'make you pay'! I barely managed to put him off by saying 'you need quiet rest and observation'!

"Tobirama! What do we do?! If this goes on, never mind Madara, I'll develop a split personality myself! Is there really no way for you to send him back?"

A long silence fell over the office.

Tobirama said nothing. His red eyes fixed on a point in empty space as his fingertips tapped lightly and unconsciously on the desk, making a soft, rhythmic tap, tap.

Senju-Style Super Strength? Uchiha Izuna? Taught by Hashirama?

He can take his eye out and put it back in at will, and takes it for granted that Big Brother or Hashirama Senju will help him put it back? Is the Sharingan something you can treat so casually?!

He complained that my "experiment quality was poor" and that I was "embarrassing"? And he wants to "make me pay"?

In another world, had Uchiha Izuna and I become close and casual enough to complain about each other and sponge off each other?

How could anything so absurd happen?

Tobirama had never believed that person was really Uchiha Izuna. He knew Hashirama and Madara thought the same, and they had all been waiting for him to slip up.

Even if their allegiances and ideals differed, they were ninja.

The courage and decisiveness ninja possessed were extreme beyond ordinary people's imagination.

If the person pretending to be Izuna showed even the slightest flaw, not even Madara would hesitate to strike him dead.

That was the tragedy of ninja, and also the foundation of their strength.

But Big Brother's reaction couldn't be faked. The words and behavior of the "Izuna" he had described... were too vivid.

If this was an elaborately designed deception, then its architect's grasp of the details of "Hashirama Senju" and "Madara Uchiha"'s psychological weaknesses was terrifying.

But if... if that really was Izuna from another world...

Tobirama's fingers stopped tapping on the desk.

"Did he really complain that my 'quality control was poor'?" Tobirama asked slowly, his voice frighteningly calm.

"Yes! Those were his exact words!" Hashirama nodded vigorously. "And he said it so naturally, like he was saying 'the weather's bad today'!"

"And he said... he wanted me to 'treat him to the most expensive desserts'?"

"...Yes." Hashirama looked away, feeling a little guilty. He couldn't shake the feeling that a storm was brewing beneath his younger brother's calm.

Tobirama fell silent again and closed his eyes. After a long while, he opened them, a sharp light of resolve flickering in their red depths.

"Big Brother," Tobirama said, "I currently have no idea how to send him back. In the field of Space-Time Ninjutsu, current research can't even accomplish a transfer without establishing the destination beforehand, much less send someone back to a parallel world."

Hashirama's shoulders slumped.

"But," Tobirama continued, changing tack, "as for why he's here and the 'abnormalities' about him—his eye, for instance, and the Senju-Style Super Strength he has mastered—perhaps we can start by investigating him."

"You mean..."

"Since he 'believes' his eye has something to do with me, and even 'believes' we're close enough that he can freely complain and extort me," Tobirama said, his lips curving in a chilly smile, "then as a 'responsible' researcher, isn't it only natural to conduct a detailed 'after-sales investigation' and 'troubleshooting' in response to a 'customer's' complaint and an obvious malfunction in a 'product'?"

Hashirama blinked. "You want to see him? But right now he..."

"There's no rush." Tobirama picked up a document, his tone returning to its businesslike blandness. "Let him 'rest quietly under observation' first. Madara's injuries need time to heal. During that time, that Izuna will certainly stay in Konoha, by Madara's side. As for us, we need to make some 'preparations.'"

"What preparations?"

"First, I need to conduct some preliminary research on the Sharingan. Second, I need a fully equipped laboratory with absolute secrecy."

"Tobirama, the Uchiha Clan will never let you study their eyes," Hashirama said softly. "That's their Kekkei Genkai."

For the various clans of the world, a Kekkei Genkai was the absolute foundation of their standing. Some clans even divided themselves into main and branch families and placed Cursed Seals on members to ensure their Kekkei Genkai did not spread to outsiders.

"But we have no choice now, do we?" Tobirama met Hashirama's eyes. "If we want Izuna to believe us, we have to play our parts all the way."

Hashirama frowned and studied Tobirama, who met his gaze openly. They both knew that once Tobirama got his hands on a Sharingan, he wouldn't be able to stop, even if Hashirama later told him to.

But Izuna's situation seemed more pressing now.

If this Uchiha Izuna really had grown up alongside them as he claimed, then super strength was far from the only thing he had learned.

Or rather, super strength alone was already this troublesome. Combined with Izuna's other existing abilities, even Hashirama would have to put in considerable effort to subdue him.

"...We'll discuss this later." Hashirama did not give a direct answer.

Tobirama didn't press the matter. He lowered his head and resumed working through the documents.

Sigh. Sitting on the sofa, Hashirama sighed silently to himself. Madara, what do we do now...?

Meanwhile, at the Uchiha residence.

Izuna carefully settled the still-unconscious Madara in bed and tucked him in. Only after checking him again and confirming that his injuries were stable did he quietly leave the room and return to his own bedroom.

He closed the door, leaned back against it, and let out a long, silent breath.

The anxiety, worry, self-reproach, bewilderment... every expression on his face receded like the tide, leaving only an almost exhausted weariness and cold calculation deep in his eyes.

He walked to the center of the room and, with a thought, brought up the system panel that only he could see.

[Act credibility: 83%]

[Return Home Points: +150 (today's total)]

Just as I thought.

The corners of Izuna's mouth lifted slightly.

His act's credibility had jumped straight from around 70% to 83%. It seemed that today's "accident" by the Naka River, though fraught with danger, had produced outstanding results.

Taking Madara to the Naka River and deliberately bringing up those "shared memories" had indeed been part of his plan.

His goal had been to use the setting and topic to deepen Madara's impression that he "came from a parallel world" and loosen his guard.

He had even rehearsed several possible reactions from Madara and ways to deal with them.

But he truly hadn't expected the variable of "Senju-Style Super Strength" to pop up, much less that the punch would be so powerful that it sent Madara flying, coughing up blood and unconscious.

Still, a setback could turn out to be a blessing.

It was precisely because of that punch that he had an excuse to go straight to Hashirama in a "panic," which led to his subsequent "natural performance" in front of him.

At that thought, Izuna's eyes brightened.

Hashirama... Hashirama Senju.

His first favorite, the first character in Naruto who made him think, He's insanely cool.

He had liked him ever since the Chunin Ninja Exams! Even his goofy personality couldn't hide how cool he was!

Who gets it?! Long, straight black hair! That's a super-handsome older guy with long, straight black hair!

He could clap his hands and summon whatever he called for! Even his goofy personality was damn near perfect! Especially that divine quality!

Nobody dislikes Hashirama Senju.jpg.

As for the trust, closeness, and even admiration and concern he had shown before Hashirama today, Izuna declared that he hadn't needed to act deliberately. That really had been his natural self!

Fortunately, it also fit his portrayal of Izuna, who "liked Brother Hashirama best after Brother Madara, because he took him running around everywhere and taught him skills."

Still, acting in front of them... was truly nerve-racking...

Izuna sighed and walked to the window, looking out at the quiet night and the faint outline of Hokage Rock in the distance.

Although he had managed to win more of Hashirama's trust and had also taken the opportunity to give him a reason to seek Tobirama out next time...

Would it really go smoothly?

From what he knew of Tobirama's personality, that meticulous, suspicious research big shot would never overlook such an "abnormality."

He would definitely investigate and probe.

Sigh... no, please... I'm just an ordinary college student. Izuna couldn't help feeling discouraged. Why did that super strength suddenly show up...? Now the whole plan's been thrown off.

What should he do next? Should he really go see Tobirama?

But then he touched his left eye, now perfectly intact and seeing clearly, and frowned again.

That eye really was a problem. Although he didn't mind—he had long since grown used to life with half his field of vision missing—"Uchiha Izuna" couldn't show that attitude.

But if he went to Tobirama...

Izuna gave a couple of bitter chuckles. Haha, I really don't want to deal with someone I can't play the emotional card with. That guy's probably still suspicious of me now.

There was one more thing he needed to confirm quickly.

Izuna opened his hand and looked at his fingers.

How many more "settings" he hadn't figured out were hidden in this body?

Senju-Style Super Strength was one.

Then... were there any others?

Izuna closed his eyes and tried hard to recall the various pieces of "personal canon" he had added to Uchiha Izuna when fantasizing about that parallel world back then.

Swordsmanship and Shurikenjutsu were the basics, without a doubt.

When his fingertips touched the cool hilt of a blade in his ninja tool pouch, the familiarity he felt, as though it were an extension of his own body, told him that this body retained the martial foundation Uchiha Izuna should have.

Fire Style? Yes, the Uchiha family trade should be there too.

Speed and strength... the former had official canon to back it up. The sensation of racing like the wind when he ran at full speed to the Hokage Building today, able to keep up with Hashirama's Body Flicker Technique, had confirmed his superior speed.

As for the latter... Izuna smiled wryly and touched his fist. Senju-Style Super Strength—the "surprise" that bit of personal canon had brought was certainly a big one.

What else was there, then?

Oh, right, I remember.

Rhythm Game.